Amid rising cases of Covid-19 infection and fatalities, farmers took out protest marches at several places in Punjab on Saturday against the weekend lockdown imposed by the state government. Punjab’s 32 farmer unions, protesting the Central farm laws, had announced to hold street protests against the lockdown in the state and urged shopkeepers to defy the restrictions.
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Among other places in the state, protests by the farmers were taken out in Moga, Patiala, Amritsar, Ajnala.
Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan in Moga said, “We are appealing to shopkeepers to open their shops. We are with them.” He further added, “Lockdown is not a solution to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.”
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Khokrikalan also accused the government of doing nothing to improve the health infrastructure.
Farmers, including women, took out marches in the markets and appealed to shopkeepers and traders through loudspeakers to open their shops. However, the shopkeepers mostly did not keep their shops open. Police personnel in adequate numbers were deployed across the state in the wake of farmers’ protests.
In Barnala, the farmers assembled at the city railway station parking and took out a protest march through the markets, while in Sangrur, supporters of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha gathered near the railway station before marching through the town’s markets. Farmers associated with the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) marched from Sangrur grain market to smaller markets.
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Balour Singh Channa, the Barnala block chief of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) said, “All farmer and labour unions participated in the protest against lockdown. Though we have been speaking against the lockdown since last year, the people of the state are not in a position to face another lockdown and it should be ended. The government should provide health services and recruit doctors to protect people from Covid-19.”
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Heavy police force was deployed in commercial areas in Patiala asking people to adhere to Covid restrictions.
Jang Singh, a farmer leader, said, “The traders are reluctant to open their shops fearing fines and police cases. We warn the government to stop intimidating shopkeepers.”
